The Boy Who Ran
by LiveForeverOrDieTrying
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto was horribly mistreated in Konoha. His unyielding resolve gave him the strength to stay. But, what if someone convinced him to run away? And if he did run away, who would find him? M for violence and language
1. Escape

**A/N: Read the first paragraph of my profile for info about story updates (and then read the rest if you want to)**

 **Also, disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

 **Edit Note: For some reason, pasting text with bold and italics into an existing document totally wipes out the bold and italics. Had to update to fix it, 'cuz it made parts of this chapter difficult to read.**

A young Naruto ran as hard as he could from the angry mob that was chasing him. He didn't know why everyone wanted his blood, but he didn't want to stick around to find out.

He rounded the corner into an alleyway in the hopes of losing his pursuers, but was unfortunate enough to end up facing a dead end instead of a way to escape. He turned back towards the mouth of the alleyway fearfully, watching as it filled with the angry faces of civilians and shinobi alike. That day was the fourth anniversary of both the fourth Hokage's death and the Kyūbi's defeat, so it seemed a fitting day for the villagers to take their revenge on the demon in the name of the Yondaime.

The boy spoke up, fear plain on his face. "Please! I didn't do anything! Please don't hurt me again!"

One of the villagers near the front of the crowd sneered. "You call the murder of hundreds of people 'nothing'? You vile demon! You're going to get what's coming to you today. Get him!"

Prompted by the shouted command, the group converged on the young child, knocking him to the ground. They began beating him, using fists, feet, knives, improvised clubs and any number of other weapons to cut and bruise the crying jinchūriki.

His inhuman resilience was both a blessing and a curse. He was blessed to be able to survive the damage to his vital organs and arteries, the various broken bones, the concussions and brain damage, the massive bleeding and everything else he was subjected to. He was cursed to remain conscious through all of it, experiencing the excruciating pain of every cut, impact, break, burn and bruise, until his incredible healing was finally overcome and he passed out from blood loss.

When the boy went limp and ceased struggling, the villagers decided that no more pain could come to him unless they left him alive, which they were unwilling to consider. An older shinobi wielding a kunai knelt beside the child's head, raising the weapon over his head in preparation to deliver the killing blow. As he brought his hands down, however, red chakra erupted from the jinchūriki, vaporizing the closest of the villagers. The sudden death of their comrades startled the mob, and the dilute but familiar chakra emanating from the boy terrified them into fleeing. They failed to notice the many wounds they inflicted on the innocent child healing as he lay in a pool of his own blood in a grimy alleyway, unconscious.

…

Naruto was awoken by water dripping onto his head. His eyes slowly opened, and he took in his surroundings. It appeared that he was in a sewer of some kind; perhaps the villagers had dumped him there after they were done with him. The floor was covered by several inches of water, and pipes ran along the wall. The ceiling was worn and cracked, and water dripped through the gaps.

He sat up slowly, surprised by his lack of pain after having endured such a severe beating. Despite his accelerated healing, he was usually sore for a while after major injuries. He might have been unconscious long enough to fully recover, but he didn't feel particularly hungry, so that probably wasn't it. He mentally shrugged and returned his attention to his surroundings.

The sewer continued on in two directions, and neither seemed exceptionally promising as a way out. However, the pipes on the walls sounded like they were all flowing the same way, so Naruto decided to follow the water and see if it led somewhere. He rose to his feet and began walking. Water sloshed at his feet, but didn't seem to impede his movement, which he found odd. It felt like he was walking on dry ground rather than wading through a pool. Something strange was going on, but Naruto couldn't figure out what. All he could really do was keep walking and see if he could get somewhere.

After an indeterminate distance, including a few turns and forks, the wide hallway opened up into a large chamber that seemed to have no place in a sewer. The ceiling was incredibly high, the walls far apart, and the far end of the room obscured in darkness behind floor-to-ceiling metal bars that were as thick as adult trees. Naruto's eyes followed the bars up to a large circular plate embedded in the middle of the obstruction, with the kanji for 'seal' written on it. His eyes were drawn to the darkness behind the bars as something large stirred, and his gaze was met by two glowing red eyes that were as big as Naruto was tall. The eyes blinked once, and a calm but powerful voice filled the air.

 **"I didn't expect to meet you so soon, kit."**

The intensity of the voice startled Naruto into taking a step back, but he stood his ground and continued looking directly at the massive creature's eyes. "Who are you?" His voice was timid but did not waver.

 **"Hmmm… you don't seem terribly afraid of me. Perhaps you will grow into a human worthy of being my Jinchūriki. I am the Kyūbi no Yōko, the demon that attacked Konohagakure four years ago today."**

"But you aren't mean to me like the villagers are. How can you be a demon if you aren't mean? And what's a Jinchruki?"

 **"To answer your first question, humans are some of the most cruel, hateful creatures that walk this earth. Demons aren't nice, but we aren't as… 'mean' as humans can be. And as for the second question, do you know where we are?"**

"Uh… Konoha's sewers?"

 **"No, we're inside your mind. That is to say, I am inside you. A Jinchūriki is a human who has a demon, specifically one of the nine Bijū, sealed inside them. I am sealed in your mind, so you are a Jinchūriki."**

"Is that why the villagers all call me 'demon'?"

 **"Yes, those foolish, hateful creatures fail to understand the nature of sealing. They either believe that you are actually me in disguise, or that I can control you. They take their anger at me for what I did out on you, all because of something you couldn't control."**

"But why did you attack Konoha?"

 **"I didn't attack your home intentionally. I don't feel like saying more about it, and you probably wouldn't understand anyway. Now, if you're done with your interrogation, I have a question for you. Why do you stay in Konoha?"**

"Konoha is my home. Where else would I go?"

 **"If you left, you would escape the beatings and the anger that people direct towards you. You could find somewhere else to call home."**

"But I don't want to go anywhere else. I want to stay in Konoha and become Hokage, and then everyone would have to be nice to me."

 **"Kit, the way the villagers treat you is going to get worse before it gets better, if it ever does, and it's already pretty damn bad. I'm not sure I can keep you alive through much more of this."**

"But there are already people here who are nice to me."

 **"Whom? The Sandaime and the Ichiraku father and daughter? The Ichirakus are nice to you because you spend thousands of ryō in their business, and they don't want to lose their biggest customer. They probably hate you just as much as the rest of those ignorant villagers. As for the Sandaime, he is the ruler of Konoha, the dictator that controls what happens in his village. Why didn't he use that power to protect you from the villagers' hatred?"**

"Uh… the civilians didn't listen to him?"

 **"He could very easily declare it a crime to treat you unfairly, and after a few people are punished you would be bothered very little. He chose not to though, and as a result I had to bring you back from the brink of death with my power. I don't think you understand how serious what just happened to you was. You were going to die. You were as close to death as anyone really can be without actually being dead. I can't promise that I can keep bringing you back from that point, and the only way for you to avoid being beaten that badly in the future by the villagers is to leave. I can train you to protect yourself, but it will take years and you might not survive long enough to be able to fend off more attacks. If we leave and I train you, you may be able to return one day and become Hokage. If you stay, you will probably die, and dead men don't become Hokage."**

Naruto sat in front of the demon's prison, considering the large fox's words. He had spent his first few years in the village hidden in the leaves, and he didn't know what life outside the village walls was like. Going out into the world on his own was a scary prospect, and he considered Konoha his home. He was reluctant to leave.

However, what the Kyūbi said was true, it was dangerous to stay. He was constantly hungry, thirsty, cold, uncomfortable, and often battered and bruised from various assaults. This hadn't been the first severe beating he had sustained, though it was by far the worst, and it seemed that everyone in the village hated him. The only people that had ever even appeared to be nice to him had been Ayame, Teuchi, and the Old Man, but the fox brought up valid points about all of them. He spent at least half of his stipend on ramen every month, and had been spending that much at the ramen shop for about a year now. He had essentially spent enough on ramen to buy the Ichirakus a house. The Old Man had also explained what it meant to be Hokage to Naruto (which had given rise to his dream), and part of that had been that the Hokage rules the village, able to order things done and make laws. Why hadn't the most powerful man in the village done something to help him? Perhaps there were laws, but nobody enforced them because they hated Naruto? Maybe he was too busy being the Hokage to do something like that to protect one boy. Naruto couldn't imagine the Hokage being evil, so he couldn't have failed to protect Naruto on purpose, but it was very possible he simply didn't think of it or didn't have the power to.

As much as it scared Naruto, he couldn't deny that it seemed like running away was the best course of action. Staying would mean that Naruto was risking life and limb, leaving would possibly put him at risk but possibly lead to a much better life. He would get training from the fox, so he would be able to defend himself soon enough. Even if he had a hard time outside the village walls, he probably wouldn't have it any harder than if he stayed home.

Several minutes of thought brought Naruto to the conclusion that he would be better off leaving Konoha than staying and being at the mercy of the people that had just almost beaten him to death. Having made his first truly life-changing decision, he stood and faced his prisoner, who was watching him impassively.

"I decided not to stay."

 **"Good. Go home; pack up whatever food you have at home and anything else you really don't want to leave behind, then I'll guide you over the walls and out of the village. When you leave, take a moment and focus on feeling my presence inside you. That will allow me to open up a link between us so I can speak to you without you having to come in here. We can make more in-depth plans after you're outside the walls."**

"Ok." Naruto looked around for a moment. "Uh… how do I leave?"

The large demon chuckled in amusement. **"Just close your eyes and focus on leaving. It's almost like forcing yourself to wake up from a dream. You can do the same thing out there if you ever need to come back here for some reason."**

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. After focusing for a moment, he opened them and looked up at a pitch black sky. Immediately, pain washed over him like a wave, causing his vision to blur and his muscles to contract, forcing him to let out a pained groan. He curled up and waited for the aches to pass. After a few moments, the soreness of recently acquired bruises receded, and he could focus again.

Remembering what the fox said about forming the link with it, Naruto closed his eyes and tried to feel for the fox's presence. For a moment, nothing happened. Soon though, comfortable warmth built in his stomach. He focused on the warmth and it strengthened, and after a few more moments he could hear the fox's voice.

 _ **There, now we can speak without forcing you to enter the seal. Just think whatever you want to say to me and I'll be able to hear it in here, same way as you can hear what I'm saying. Now, go get your stuff, I want us to be out of here by dawn.**_

Naruto clambered to his feet, triggering another twinge of pain that made him wince, and set out towards home. He stuck to the shadows to minimize his chance of being found, listening for footsteps or voices. After a few minutes and a couple detours, he reached his front door and entered his decrepit apartment. He paid the grime, bugs and strewn garbage no mind, heading straight for the kitchen to gather what little food he had stored. Everything edible went into a backpack he had found in the dumpster a few months ago. After his pantry was cleaned out, he went to his dresser and grabbed a few changes of clothes. Soon, he was standing outside the building that he used to call home, all of the things he owned of any real value on his back.

 _Where to now?_

 _ **You know how to get on top of the Hokage monument, right? Go up there and walk along the edge of the cliff. It's taller than the walls around the rest of Konoha, so there are places where you can climb down and end up outside them.**_

Naruto did as instructed, sneaking up to the top of the monument then walking along its edge. He soon came to a section that was sufficiently rocky that he could climb down, ending up on the ground a good distance outside the walls. He looked back in the direction of his home wistfully for a moment, before turning and walking away.

…

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not in a good mood. The shinobi he tasked with guarding Naruto during the festival were insisting that they watched him until they were relieved from duty, and the shinobi that relieved them from duty claimed that there was nobody at Naruto's apartment when it came time for them to take their shift. Hiruzen knew which of the two shifts were lying; Naruto was nowhere to be found. Last night's guard detail was currently in the T and I department, but was refusing to cooperate. Hiruzen had tasked nearly half of the ANBU with searching the village, scouring every building, alleyway, nook and cranny for the boy, but none had reported finding him. The best they had done was find some witnesses that said they saw him last night, but nobody could or would say exactly when or where they saw him. The Sandaime didn't think a four-year-old could leave the village on his own, and he would hope that nobody would kidnap him, but he decided that safe was better than sorry and tried to order tracking teams to find the boy. However, he found himself up against some unexpected opposition.

"Uzumaki is a civilian, so his responsibility falls to the civilian council. Ninja should not meddle in civilian affairs! We don't need a ninja tracking team searching for the boy."

Homura and Koharu were refusing to allow Hiruzen to send tracking teams out to look for the young Jinchūriki. They were correct, unfortunately; he had been foolish enough to give the Konoha council enough power to subvert him in certain civilian affairs, including those that involved civilians that were outside Konoha's walls.

Homura and Koharu were unaware of the mob that had attacked Naruto the night before, believing instead that the boy had either run off or been kidnapped. They hated him with enough vitriol to be glad of his disappearance, hoping for him never to return.

Danzō, however, knew of the mob. His Root members had successfully interrogated some of the civilians that had claimed to have seen Naruto the night before, learning of the beating that Naruto sustained. Their description of the injuries they saw before they were chased off sounded fatal, and the description of how the chakra that burst from Naruto's body obliterated the victims it touched provided an explanation for why Naruto's body was absent from the alley they said they left him in. Believing their Jinchūriki to be dead and wanting to minimize the damage, Danzō had Root agents assassinate the shinobi being interrogated and helped Homura and Koharu prevent Hiruzen from sending out tracking teams, intending to claim that he ran away once scent trails became unreliable. He wanted to keep the shinobi that contributed to Naruto's supposed murder out of jail, lest their military force be weakened.

The Sandaime sighed, unable to do anything more than what he was already. Naruto seemed to be absent from the village, and the council was preventing him from doing anything about it. He simply hoped that wherever he was, Naruto was ok.

 **A/N: Follow and favorite and review if you enjoyed, it will motivate me. Flaming is encouraged, constructive criticism will be considered, and compliments will motivate me even more than other reviews.**


	2. Abroad

**A/N: Huh. Thanks for all the follows and favorites and reviews and stuff for my first chapter. Have a cookie *cough* I mean chapter. Jutsu names are in English because I plan on inventing my own, and I haven't the inclination to try translating my names for them.**

 **Disclaimer: I-ay on't-day own-ay aruto-Nay, ut-bay I-ay am-ay uent-flay in-ay iglatin-pay. Y-whay on't-day ey-thay ist-lay iglatin-pay as-ay one-ay of-ay e-thay anguage-lay options-ay?**

 _Two years later_

Dawn broke over a small clearing in the middle of the wilderness. A small tent was nestled in the shadow of a nearby tree, and the remains of a fire smoldered a few feet away. A quiet rustling from the tent disturbed a nearby rabbit, which proceeded to dart towards the opposite side of the clearing. The sound of a kunai hitting a tree cut through the air as a small but fit six-year-old Naruto exited his temporary shelter. Yawning, he strode across the clearing to retrieve the victim of the trap he set the night before.

Soon, the rabbit's carcass was roasting over a newly restarted fire, and Naruto was mentally conversing with his mentor and only friend. _So, Kurama, what kind of training am I gonna do today?_

 ** _Hmmm… you've been progressing incredibly fast for one so young. I think you might be ready to try out some of what you've learned in actual combat. How does that sound?_**

The boy truly had made astonishing progress. While the most advanced of his peers were probably just beginning to train in clan techniques as long as they weren't too troublesome, Naruto had already learned enough to be able to pass the final exam at the academy, if only the ninjutsu and taijutsu portions. Coupled with his nearly inexhaustible stamina and inhuman healing and resilience, the fox believed Naruto would probably be able to match blows with most genin and come out on top.

Naruto blinked. He certainly hadn't been expecting that. His surprise was short lived, however, and a grin split his face at the prospect of an exciting fight and a chance to test out his abilities.

 _Alright, cool! This is gonna be awesome! So who am I gonna fight?_

 ** _I can sense a pretty big town not far from here. Bandit camps are common near big towns, so we shouldn't have much trouble finding some wimps for you to beat the hell out of. But, remember: these people can be dangerous, and while many will have reservations about fighting a child, you'll meet plenty who won't hesitate to kill you. Don't fool around._**

 _Alright, I'll be careful. Hey, if they have stolen jutsu scrolls on them, will you help me learn them?_

 ** _I will if I can, but there are plenty of techniques out there that you don't have the chakra control or the affinity to use. Don't be upset if I say you can't learn something._**

Naruto gave a mental nod and pulled the rabbit off the fire, biting into the mildly charred meat. He ate quickly, eager to test his skills and see how strong he was. After a few minutes, he finished and tossed the remains into the fire, returning to his tent to take it down and pack it back into his backpack. Returning to the fire, he kicked some dirt over the pit, smothering the low flames.

 ** _Ok, the town is northeast of here, so head east and I'll see if I can sense any bandit encampments._**

The fox's sensing ability was severely limited from the seal, but it was good enough to sense large populations from a distance and smaller groups from a few hundred feet away. Kurama's first attempt at sensing after Naruto left Konoha was severely disappointing. Before, the mighty Kyūbi could sense the chakra of a termite from a mile away, but now the unfortunate prisoner couldn't even match _human_ sensors in ability. It was embarrassing. At least the ability was useful enough to give a bit of advance warning if someone was sneaking up on the boy, or perhaps if there was a hidden ambush with a lot of people, but beyond that the ability had very limited utility.

However, it was certainly better than simply running around, hoping to stumble into a camp full of bloodthirsty cutthroats.

Naruto took to the trees, hopping along the branches to practice his tree climbing. Kurama had informed him that, because he was a Jinchūriki, he had an absurd amount of chakra for a six year old. However, that was a double edged sword. His control was atrocious, and without significant practice he would be unable to use anything but the most chakra intensive ninjutsu, which were not abundant because of the obvious rarity of people who would have enough chakra to use them. Naruto took every opportunity he could to improve his chakra control, determined not to have his potential jutsu arsenal limited by something within his control.

Approximately half an hour later, Kurama sensed a group of people nearby and alerted Naruto. He quickly removed his backpack, securing it to the tree via a kunai, before traversing a dozen more trees and stopping. He crouched, peering out at the tents visible in the clearing below.

The bandit camp was pretty small, made up of four midsize tents and a fire pit. Six young or middle aged men were milling around, many with large weapons on their backs or belts. Considering how near they were when Kurama sensed them compared to how many were present in the camp, none had reserves any bigger than an academy student at best, indicating that they were probably relatively weak. While they might be strong, their choice of weapon was clearly meant for intimidation and not combat, as they probably wouldn't be able to swing fast enough to catch anyone who was aware enough to dodge. Naruto looked down at them, itching for a good fight.

However, something seemed off to Kurama. Having encountered bandit camps from time to time before being sealed, the fox knew that a bandit camp like this should have a leader of some sort. A bandit posse of any size was too riddled with greed to work together very well unless there was someone to put the subordinates in their places. None of the six down below _seemed_ to be particularly strong compared to the others, so which one was the leader, and why? Naruto and his prisoner were so focused on the criminals in the camp that they didn't notice the man launching a kick from behind them.

Before he could react, Naruto was sent careening through the air, landing on one of the tents and collapsing it. He shook off the force of the impact in time to see a seventh person hop down from the forest canopy above, chuckling.

"So, child, what were you doing spying on our little _enterprise_ here? You weren't thinking of _stealing_ from us, were you?"

Naruto's eyes were wide, flicking from the man who had snuck up on him to the various grunts that were surrounding him. He still had the element of surprise to some degree, as nobody had any clue that he was strong enough to fight back, but he was outnumbered. However, that certainly didn't have to be the case.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Smoke filled the circle of outlaws, and several were sent flying a few feet by unexpected blows. Many had jumped back when the boy had called out, however, and drew their weapons. The boss simply jumped back and folded his arms, content to watch.

The smoke cleared, revealing a dozen identical six year olds holding kunai between their fingers like claws, facing various opponents. The bandits that had been knocked to the ground began to regain their feet, and the ones that were still standing tensed.

On an unspoken signal, the twelve Narutos leapt at their opponents, swiping with their makeshift claws. The original leapt at the unconcerned boss, only to be intercepted by a burly man with a common sledgehammer. Spinning out of the way of a slow swing, Naruto retaliated by delivering a brutal spinning kick to the man's kidney, bringing him to a knee in pain. A swipe of his kunai and the assailant dropped his hammer, withdrawing his red tinged hand. Grinning, the boy finished his target off with a flying backwards roundhouse kick to the head, knocking his target out cold.

 ** _What did I tell you about fooling around?_**

Naruto chuckled sheepishly and mentally apologized, looking around to see that the other five subordinates had been knocked out, at the cost of nine clones. It seemed that, despite not having the tail necessary to properly use the original, Naruto was rather proficient with his bastardized version of the Kitsune style. Not that that gave him any kind of license to 'modify' it further with flashy but wasteful moves like the one he just pulled.

His attention returned to his last remaining opponent, who was standing lackadaisically with his arms crossed. The man watched as Naruto's clones came forwards and charged at him, before quickly dispelling them by rolling under their attack and stabbing them in the back with kunai that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. His arms relaxed at his sides and he returned his attention to the surprisingly skilled child in front of him.

"Hmmm… you caught my _entourage_ off guard with your 'scared little boy' act, didn't you? I must say I don't know many your age that could take down six full grown men. But, do you _really_ think you have a chance against _me_?"

He whipped his arms up from his sides and sent the two kunai zipping towards Naruto, who had no chance to react before they plunged into his chest. The boss's smirk soon vanished, however, as did the young Jinchūriki's body in a puff of smoke. The criminal leader spun, burying his foot in the child's stomach as he attempted to attack from behind. The blow knocked him into a tree, but he dropped to his feet and got ready to retaliate.

He dashed forward, ducking under a thrown kunai aimed for his neck. He brought his pseudo-clawed hand around in a slash, but his blow was parried with a ninjato. The two exchanged blows for a few moments, dodging and parrying; each trying to gain the upper hand. A close swipe by Naruto drew blood as his opponent jumped back, and the sword-wielding bandit retaliated with a quick slash. Naruto cried out as the kunai fell from his nearly bisected left hand. He brought his right hand up to parry the follow up strike and kicked at his adversary's knee. He could hear a snap as the man grunted and flinched from the pain, and used the distraction to plunge the three kunai in his right hand directly into the enemy's chest.

His foe's eyes widened. The man coughed up blood onto Naruto's startled features. His arms went limp, and the ninjato landed softly on the ground between them.

"You…*cough* really are something… eh, kid?"

The man's eyes closed, and he slumped forward, taking Naruto down as well with his weight. Blinking away tears from the pain in hand and the fact that he had just ended a life, the boy struggled to shift the man's weight off to one side. Pushing aside the corpse, he rolled to the side and emptied his stomach of the rabbit from earlier.

 ** _It's alright, kit. He'd have done the same to you, and even if not he's probably done it to others. The world is better without him in it._**

Naruto calmed down as the comforting words reached him, and he returned to his back to catch his breath. As the adrenaline of the fight continued to wear off, he became aware of intense pain in his left hand, and made the mistake of looking down at it. The cut was parallel to his fingers, running from the base of his wrist to the juncture between his index and middle finger, clean through. He gagged in revulsion at seeing a part of his body mangled in such a way, and was soon back on his side, dry heaving and cradling his injured hand.

As he caught his breath, a red glow coming from his hand caught his attention. He didn't want to see his injury again, but could feel the warmth of the Kyūbi's chakra coursing from his stomach up his arm and to the laceration, assuaging the pain and mending his appendage. He continued to catch his breath as his friend worked to repair the damage, gazing up at the sky and contemplating what he had just done.

Killing a man was not easy. Had the other bandits been conscious while he was heaving, he would almost certainly be dead. As difficult as it was though, he trusted the Kyūbi, and Kurama had said that it was ok. Naruto knew, conceptually, that as a shinobi he would have to take lives. Actually performing the deed was a bitter pill, though, and did not sit well with him in the slightest. However, he couldn't deny that his opponent would have taken any and every opportunity possible to leave Naruto in a red puddle on the ground, as evidenced by the red glow emanating from his palm. This was a situation in which one of the two of them was going to end up dead. It helped, but it was still unfortunate and unpleasant. Naruto resolved to spare his opponents if he could, but to protect himself if they refused to make peace.

The red glow from his hand dissipated. Naruto raised his newly repaired hand and flexed it experimentally. Phantom aches centered on the faint line of scar tissue connecting his previously disconnected hand segments, but other than that it was fully healed. He hadn't received such a serious injury before, and it had been disconcerting, but the Kyūbi no Yōko was a powerful friend to have indeed.

Naruto stood, looking out at the unconscious bandits before him. He still wanted to pillage the camp, his unease at taking a life having abated. None of the weapons wielded by the common thugs were of interest to the boy, being too heavy to wield properly and of too poor a quality to bother collecting to sell. His eyes fell to the ninjato in front of him, still stained with his own blood. It appeared to be a relatively high quality blade to Naruto's untrained eye, and it was short enough for him to wield without trouble.

He picked up the sword, wiping the blood off on the grass, before looking to the corpse next to him for the sheath. It was tied to the man's leg. Relieved that he would not have to disturb the body very much to retrieve it, Naruto took the sheath from the bandit and secured it on his back, sliding the ninjato into it.

The boy quickly rifled through the tents, looking for anything of value to take. The first three tents, including the crushed one, were empty save for some clothing and a couple of sleeping bags. The Jinchūriki entered the final tent, disappointed that there was nothing of interest for him to take, when he stopped short.

The final tent held only a single sleeping bag, but the remaining space was filled with a pile of loot. Unfortunately, it seemed that the majority of the items in the pile were similar in style to the weapons used by the thugs outside: big, heavy, and cheap. Some pieces of armor were thrown into the mix as well, but none of it interested Naruto as he dug through, looking for something of value.

Near the bottom of the pile, however, he managed to retrieve a small ornate box and a handful of scrolls. Opening the box, Naruto removed a thick stack of ryō notes. Apparently, these bandits had been rather prolific. No need to worry about sorting through more weapons to sell any, the stolen money would be enough to cover any needs Naruto had for a long while. The scrolls seemed to be on a variety of subjects, and to his delight he spotted a couple that looked like instructions for ninjutsu. However, he wanted to be out of the camp by the time the brutes outside woke up, so he shoved the money in his pocket and tucked the scrolls under an arm, exiting the tent.

Naruto returned to his backpack and stored the scrolls inside before leaving the bandit camp behind, looking for a clearing to set up his tent. His fight, the following ordeal and the looting of the camp had only taken a few hours, but the situation had taken its toll on the boy, and he intended to relax and read his scrolls. He was still shaken, and he didn't feel up for anything physically or emotionally taxing.

A few minutes of travel brought him to a cave, which he promptly entered. Letting his backpack drop to the ground, he slumped against the cave wall, sliding down into a sitting position. He sighed and closed his eyes.

 ** _I'm sorry for putting you through that, kit. You understand that you needed to get your first kill in a relatively safe situation, so you don't freeze up like that and get yourself killed later. Getting combat experience against actual killers didn't hurt either. It might seem bad, but I did it for your own good._**

Naruto remained silent for several minutes. _It's ok. I knew I would need to do that eventually, but I wasn't ready for just what it would be like. Better now than later to get it out of the way, I guess._

He remained against the wall for several more minutes before opening his eyes, unzipping the backpack next to him and removing the scrolls he had pilfered from the bandit camp. There were four in total, one of them larger than the other three. Naruto believed that the larger scroll would have a cooler and more powerful jutsu, so he decided to save the best for last. He grabbed one of the small ones and opened it up, examining the jutsu instructions inside.

The instructions were for Wind Release: Wind Bullet, a mid-ranking offensive wind jutsu. The element was a stroke of luck; Kurama had informed Naruto that he had a very strong wind affinity, and almost no affinity for every other element. He did have a bit of a fire affinity as well, probably because of the Kyūbi's fire affinity, but it was so weak that it would be of little use without a lot of refining, especially considering that his main affinity was opposed to it.

The Wind Bullet technique seemed like a versatile and effective combat jutsu, but it required a lot of chakra control. To mold such an unruly element into a cohesive projectile for any length of time required chakra to shape it in a specific way, and shape manipulation was quite an advanced form of chakra control. Not to mention the fact that this was elemental manipulation as well, which Naruto had only rudimentary practice with so far. The technique would take a lot of work, but Naruto refused to consider _not_ learning it, so he simply set it aside for later and grabbed the next small scroll.

This one provided the instructions for the Earth Release: Stone Spikes, a low ranking multipurpose earth jutsu. Naruto was a bit disappointed. While theoretically he would be able to develop an earth affinity with some work, considering it isn't antagonistic to his other two affinities, he would probably have to work even harder on that than on the Wind Bullet before he got it to work. It was a cool ability too, but for now it was going to be out of his reach. Placing the scroll back in his backpack, Naruto grabbed the last of the small scrolls.

Unfortunately, the final small scroll provided the instructions for a lightning jutsu, which was weak to Naruto's wind affinity. He could practice for hours and be no closer to getting even a low rank lightning jutsu to work for him. He placed it back in his bag with the earth jutsu and turned his attention to the larger scroll.

He opened it up eagerly, only for his excited smile to falter in confusion when he was met with something other than a ninjutsu. The scroll appeared to hold instructions on calligraphy and writing, much to his bemusement. He was about to put it away when Kurama spoke up.

 ** _Kit, I think you might like this stuff. These are instructions for beginners' fuinjutsu._**

Naruto furrowed his brow, looking closer at the symbols described in the scroll. Some of the symbols helped power or stabilize the seals, others had interesting functions that he could definitely make use of. Being able to write out a seal array to prepare a trap _did_ seem pretty cool, and that was only one of the applications of fuinjutsu that he could deduce from his cursory glance at the scroll. Not being interested in practicing his elemental manipulation, Naruto decided to put away the  Wind Bullet scroll and read the fuinjutsu scroll.

He still wanted to improve his chakra control, however, so he decided to read while sitting on the cave's ceiling.

...

Many hours later, Naruto was next to another fire pit, eating another rabbit that had been caught in a fuinjutsu trap. Despite the difficulty he had focusing his chakra and his mind at the same time, he had learned a lot from the fuinjutsu scroll and, according to the fox, understood it with much more ease than any six year old should have. Kurama knew why he was so skilled in the complex art, but didn't know if Naruto was ready to know. While the boy enjoyed his meal, the Kyūbi was deep in thought.

As the blonde finished his meal, his tenant came to a decision. **_Hey kit, how'd you like to know about your parents?_**

The boy hesitated as he was about to throw the refuse from his meal into the fire, blinking in surprise. _You knew my parents?_

 ** _Yes, I did. Your mother was actually the one who contained me before you did, though she and I didn't get along nearly as well as we do._**

 _Who were they?_

Naruto hadn't even wondered if he had any parents. He was alone for as long as he could remember, so he had always assumed he simply didn't have any, and judging from the number of children that had been in the orphanage with him before he was kicked out, he believed it wasn't uncommon to lack parents. He was surprised that he actually did have parents, and wanted to learn more about them.

 ** _Your mother was Uzumaki Kushina, a member of a clan that specialized in fuinjutsu. She was brilliant, a fuinjutsu prodigy even by Uzumaki standards, but she had a temper that I daresay rivaled mine. Her peers nicknamed her the 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero'._**

The fox chuckled, remembering her reaction when she first caught Jiraiya peeping.

 _A clan? I have a clan?_

 ** _Unfortunately, not anymore kit. During the Second Shinobi World War, a massive coalition between the armies of Sunagakure, Amegakure, and Iwagakure attacked Uzushiogakure, which was home to the Uzumaki clan. Uzu was a close ally to Konoha, and were remarkably dangerous opponents, so Suna, Ame and Iwa decided to strike preemptively to remove their most dangerous opposition. Their forces numbered near 40,000, outnumbering the forces of Uzu by at least 20 to one, but the defenses put in place by the best of the Uzumaki seal masters kept the enemy force at bay for nearly a week before finally collapsing._**

 ** _The vast majority of the citizens of Uzu were killed, and the village itself was razed to the ground, but the Suna-Ame-Iwa coalition was weakened so much that they were driven back into neighboring Ame by the relief forces from Konoha, which was where most of the fighting took place. If their forces hadn't been thinned so significantly by Uzu, Konoha would probably have been obliterated in the following conflict._**

 ** _Most of the Uzumaki stayed and fought to the end, which is why they are nearly gone. No more than a couple survived. Your mother was brought back to Konoha after being found hidden in the ruins of Uzu, where she grew up._**

 _Woah, my clan held off 40,000 shinobi for a full week with their seals? That's awesome! ...It's too bad they're gone, though; I would have loved to meet them._

 ** _Indeed, the fall of Uzushio saw the death of nearly half of the world's seal masters, and since then the art has faded into obscurity. Even without fuinjutsu though, they were skilled shinobi with impressive skills. That advanced healing of yours isn't entirely my doing; Uzumaki were well known for their longevity and accelerated healing. They also had a lesser known bloodline that gave them… 'dense' chakra, for lack of a better term. Uzumaki chakra is the only chakra I know of strong enough not to erode when containing me, which is why only Uzumaki have successfully become my Jinchūriki. Particularly strong shinobi among them could also use this dense chakra to manifest physical chains, something you may be able to do if you practice at it._**

 _Wow, my mom's clan was awesome… but who was my dad?_

 ** _Your father… was the one who sealed me inside you; Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure._**

There was a pause that stretched uncomfortably, Naruto speechless and Kurama awaiting his reaction.

 _...but… but everyone in Konoha loves him, and hates me._

 ** _They probably weren't told of your heritage, and I can understand why. During the Third Shinobi World War, your father single-handedly defeated an invasion force from Iwagakure of over one thousand shinobi. Unfortunately, that meant that your father orphaned a significant portion of the current population of Iwa, and if they knew of your relation to him they would almost certainly assassinate you out of spite. Those who knew of your heritage kept quiet to protect you._**

Another minute of silence.

 _My parents were really strong, huh?_

The surprising statement drew a chuckle from Kurama.

 ** _I suppose they were. I guess that means you're going to be pretty strong when you get older too, eh kit?_**

 _What do you mean when I'm older? I totally kicked those bandits' asses today._

The Kyūbi laughed heartily at the boy's confidence, glad that he had taken knowledge of his heritage so well and that he wasn't noticeably traumatized by the day's events. The fox was proud of his Jinchūriki's performance that day, and was glad that he didn't seem to have lost his childish lightheartedness that had endeared the boy to the demon over the past two years.

 ** _We've been conversing for quite a while, and it's late. Get some sleep, because I'm going to make sure you make up for the training you missed today._**

Naruto gave a mental nod and retrieved a sleeping bag from his backpack, not needing a tent because of the natural cover of the cave. He laid it out by the fire and crawled into it, shifting around to get comfortable. _Good night, Kurama._

 ** _Good night, kit._**

 **A/N: I'm a bit disappointed that none of my reviews are flames. C'mon, there's gotta be something y'all can complain about! Oh yeah, follows, favorites and non-flame reviews are cool too.**


	3. Besieged

**A/N: This is the third rewrite of this chapter I had to do. Originally I wanted to take it in a whole different direction, but I can't write friendly character interaction for the life of me. By that same token, there will be no pairings. Maybe in the future I can team up with another aspiring writer and we can work together to do some collaborative work.**

 **Also, just hit 10k words, not including A/Ns. Farthest I've gotten w/o abandoning a story. Keep up the support and I'll probably keep up the writing. Thx for 1,000 views as well, that's quite a milestone for having posted only 2 chapters.**

 **If you have questions about things, post them in a review and I'll get back to you. I leave most explanations implied because I'm lazy, but I do consider these things and try to make it realistic.**

 **Disclaimer: I do own Naruto, and it is not opposite day.**

 _Another two years later._

A commotion outside broke Naruto from his slumber. He had been living in a large town near the border of Ta no Kuni for a few months, having decided to take a break from the constant training, travelling and/or fighting that had been his life for nearly half of his eight years. He had still stayed in shape, and practiced his fuinjutsu, but he had refrained from anything particularly strenuous. His time there had been pleasant; he was friendly with many of the residents that lived near him, and he did odd jobs around town to keep money in the bank.

During his time in town, Naruto maintained a low profile by using a clan variant of the Transformation Technique that he named the Uzumaki Secret Technique: Dense Transformation. The technique was actually developed by accident, after Naruto put too much chakra into a Transformation and made it condense. It wasn't exactly solid, but unlike the original Transformation it wasn't entirely a genjutsu. The clan variant would survive several light or moderate blows before it was dispelled, and didn't require nearly as much chakra control as the original Transformation, though it did require more chakra output. Luckily, the fox's presence had ensured that Naruto had more than enough chakra to use the Dense Transformation for hours without getting tired.

During his time in town, Naruto had witnessed a handful of small bandit posses attempt to raid the village. However, being near a border, there were a couple of garrisons with samurai in town, and a local militia of volunteer minutemen for when the samurai were away on missions. The disguised Jinchūriki had opted to join the minutemen as an excuse to buy some high quality weapons, and had joined them in fighting off the bandit raids as a result. He had always held back considerably, but nevertheless the bandits were always run off.

Never before had fighting of the scale that Naruto heard from his apartment occurred; it sounded as though most of the large bandit camps that were nearby had agreed to work together to sack the town. Even more worrisome, however, were the calls of Ninjutsu names and subsequent sounds of destruction. Naruto even recognized one or two of the techniques as B rank. While he certainly believed he could deal with one or two B rank ninja, he most certainly couldn't while maintaining his disguise. The boy wasn't willing to let harm come to the innocent townspeople just for the sake of maintaining his cover, but he wouldn't be able to stay after the fighting, which was disappointing.

Grabbing his ninjato from where it rested next to his bed, he quickly unsheathed it and slapped some premade chakra conducting seals on the blade. He also applied reusable chakra storage seals to his palms, inactive weight seals to his feet, and some chakra disruption seals of Naruto's own making to his head and limbs. The ninjato's sheath was slung across his back as he leapt out the window to join the fighting, sword in hand.

Immediately, he could see that there were hundreds of bandits attacking throughout the town. Only about a tenth of them were flinging ninjutsu around, but that still gave them a massive advantage over the non-chakra-using samurai and militia. Directly below Naruto's apartment, two ninjutsu-using attackers were harassing a contingent of ten samurai. One appeared to be spamming multiple low rank lightning techniques, while the other covered him using defensive earth techniques. Four of the samurai had already succumbed to the frequent shocks, either dead or unconscious, and the other six desperately attempted to either protect their fallen comrades or fight back.

Naruto aimed a dropkick at the lightning user, pushing chakra into his foot to activate the weight seal there. The earth user took notice, however, and erected an Earth Dome to protect them both. Five hundred pounds of ninja-foot came down on compacted dirt at a high velocity, and the structure collapsed. Deactivating the weight seal, Naruto swung his sword through the dust that had been kicked up from the dome's destruction, aiming where he had seen the earth user previously. Metal met stone, and the boy saw that the bandit had used his time under the dome to cover his limbs in stone armor.

Not expecting for his attack to be stopped, Naruto was knocked off balance. His opponent took the opportunity to embed a jagged stone foot in the blonde's stomach, sending him backwards into someone behind him and knocking the sword from his hand. The other individual grabbed him in a bear-hug and activated a lightning technique, sending a powerful current through the Jinchūriki's body.

Through the pain, Naruto managed to activate the chakra disruptors on his arms and legs, interrupting the jutsu. Naruto pressed his palms against the body behind him and released the wind chakra that had collected in the storage seals on his hands, discharging a concussive burst of wind to knock the man back. The unexpected push knocked the man to the ground, releasing the Jinchūriki from his grip.

Naruto recovered quickly, responding with a backflip aiming for the lightning user's legs. He activated his weight seals once again, but his target managed to roll slightly before impact. The thousand-pound force still managed to land a glancing blow, resulting in a cry of pain. Naruto deactivated the weight and got into a combat stance, facing his opponents.

The lightning user returned to his feet, only to stumble as he put weight on his injured leg. Naruto attempted to capitalize on the mistake, only to be intercepted by an Earth Wall. He jumped back as the wall sprouted spikes, and turned his attention to the armored man.

Naruto smirked at his opponent, deciding to try out an experimental weapon he had recently invented. He withdrew a steel bocce ball from his weapon pouch, tossing it up in the air flippantly. The bandit across from him frowned and narrowed his eyes, shifting his stance slightly in anticipation. The boy suddenly grinned, throwing the metal ball at the earth user as hard as he could, surreptitiously activating the simple seal array on it at the same time. The man tilted his head skeptically and scoffed, holding out his hand to deflect the projectile.

His eyes widened and he cried out in startled pain as the weight seal-enhanced metal ball plowed into his arm and torso with the force of a freight train, mangling his hand and shattering his armor. He was knocked off his feet and sent sprawling across the ground and the ball embedded itself in the dirt.

Two samurai that had been watching the battle warily suddenly leapt into action. One quickly brought his sword to the injured combatant's neck to discourage resistance, the other retrieved some chakra suppression handcuffs and restrained him. Naruto was so busy paying attention to this, however, that he missed the lightning jutsu behind him until it slammed into his back, knocking him to the ground and causing him to convulse.

He overcame the electric current quickly and returned to his feet, only to see another lightning bolt shooting towards him. The wind-user stuck his palms out in front of him and once again released the collected wind chakra there, sending out a wave of air that disrupted the technique. The lightning user was undeterred, however, and began forming handseals for a more powerful attack. Naruto began forming handseals as well, preparing to overcome the lightning user and bring him down. The boy finished his seals first, calling out and releasing his technique.

"Wind Release: Condensed Airwave"

He clapped his hands together, sending out a concussive wave of air. The other man sped up as the wave sped towards him, finishing the last hand sign and inhaling. Naruto's eyes widened; he hadn't encountered any lightning release jutsu that originated in the mouth. Either the technique was rare, which meant it was probably powerful, or it wasn't a lightning technique.

"Fire Release: Billowing Purge"

The Jinchūriki looked on in horror as a massive swell of fire emerged from his opponent's mouth, easily overcoming his wind release technique and quickly growing in size. It expanded over the entire street, engulfing several samurai that were too slow to avoid it. Naruto was too close to the attack to dodge it, and didn't have any ninjutsu that had a snowball's chance in hell to block it. He did the only thing he could think of to do: he crossed his arms over his face and expelled as much chakra in front of his body as he could, hoping to deflect the flames.

As he focused, a faint, shimmering wall of condensed chakra formed in front of him. The fire impacted the shield, grinding against it and wearing it away. It held for a few seconds, sparing the young fighter from death, but when it broke he was burned badly. Another few seconds passed before the technique faded away, leaving Naruto on his knees, injured and panting.

The bandit limped toward him casually, expecting his opponent to be nearly dead. He blinked in surprise when he saw very few third degree burns. That technique should have cooked the kid alive, yet he escaped it mostly intact. He whistled.

"Whew, not bad kid, you gave me a run for my money. I'm lucky I have a double affinity, I don't doubt you would've won if I didn't have a fire affinity or you had some sort of warning that I had one. You still managed to get out of that technique alive to boot. Damn shame I'm gonna have to put you down, you got some real talent. Hold still and I'll make it quick for you, I don't wanna put you through any unnecessary suffering."

He drew a kunai, flipping it into a reverse grip and preparing to deliver the final blow. Naruto, however, was far from ready to lay down and die.

As the man raised his arm, the Jinchūriki focused his chakra into his back, condensing it. Suddenly, he lashed out with the condensed chakra, forming a short chain with a spike on the end made out of chakra and thrusting it into his opponent's neck. The bandit's eyes widened in surprise, and he would have gasped in surprise and pain had his throat not been blocked by the blade through his trachea. Naruto retracted the chain, and his attacker fell backwards onto the ground, dead.

The blonde also slumped to the ground, exhausted by the various techniques he had used during the fight. The chakra shield in particular had drained a significant portion of his reserves, though its defensive properties were certainly worth the cost. Now that he thought about it, that technique would need a name. It seemed to be another facet of the Uzumaki clan's chakra, like the Dense Transformation and Chakra Chains, and it completely blocked the attack until it was broken. He decided to call it the Uzumaki Secret Technique: Chakra Barrier.

 _Alright, that sounds good._

 _ **Heh, you and your obsession with naming new techniques. You planning on creating a whole library of these 'Uzumaki Secret Techniques'?**_

 _Uh, duh. Every clan needs a totally cool jutsu library._

 _ **Pfft, kit, you're a clan of one. Who's going to read these technique scrolls you plan on writing?**_

 _Well… uh… I'm going to have kids eventually and, um, I can't be the only Uzumaki left… and, uh…._

Kurama chuckled.

 _ **Whatever you say, kit. Look alive though, I sense a couple of chakra signatures coming towards you.**_

 _No, those are just the samurai that were fighting these bandits before._

 _ **No, they aren't. The samurai ran off after that huge fire technique. These guys feel like ninja. Actually, it feels like there are two ninja and a civilian, but I'm not entirely sure. Be careful, if you're forced to use my chakra it'll draw the bad kind of attention.**_

Naruto shook his head to wake himself up, getting back into a ready crouch and turning to face the newcomers. They were both big and tough-looking, wearing strange hitai-ates that had music note symbols on them. One had a small body over either shoulder, both appearing to be children. The other had a sword sheath on his back, the sword itself held casually at his side. Naruto watched as blood slowly dripped off the downturned point of the katana, leaving a trail on the ground. The one carrying the children spotted the blonde and smirked, nudging his partner.

"Oho, so we find a third one, eh? This is a good batch we picked up here. And look at those, looks like this kid is a fighter. Maybe he'll be strong enough to survive the procedure?"

The sword-wielder scoffed.

"It doesn't matter if they survive or not, we were instructed to find some subjects and we found them. Three should be enough to merit a reward though, I'm looking forward to that."

As the two clearly hostile men spoke, Naruto glanced around surreptitiously to find something to help him. He spotted his fallen ninjato off to his right and wasted no time making a scrambling dash for it. Before he could reach it, however, the unburdened ninja appeared in front of him, the tip of his sword level with the boy's eye.

"Ah ah ah, we've got plans for you. Don't try something you'll regret later."

Ignoring the threatening words, the Jinchūriki quickly held his palms forward, releasing the collected wind chakra there for a third time. After so many uses, the effect was beginning to diminish. However, the force of the shockwave was still enough to knock the swordsman off balance, which gave Naruto ample opportunity to dive past him and grab his sword, rising to a kenjutsu stance just in time to parry a retaliatory blow.

"Hmm, looks like you're hell bent on causing trouble. Don't say I didn't warn you."

The boy's opponent became a blur, lashing out with strikes all around Naruto. The blonde certainly wasn't inexperienced with a blade, but he couldn't move fast enough to block some of the blows and received nasty cuts all over his body from his adversary. In a desperate attempt to gain some space, Naruto pushed chakra into his sword, powering the seals on it and extending the blade by about a foot with wind chakra. He immediately ducked and spun, lashing out in a circle around himself to either bisect his enemy or force him back. The man was unprepared for this and, while his superior speed saved him from serious harm, he still received a formidable gash on his torso from the sly attack. He growled in pain and anger.

"That hurt, you little shit. I'm done fucking around with you."

Strange black markings quickly enveloped the swordsman's body, and he began emitting strange, tainted chakra that Kurama immediately picked up on.

 _ **Kit, this is bad. I'm giving you my power, use it to get the fuck away from-**_

Before the fox could give Naruto the chakra he'd need to fight these guys off, the hostile ninja had delivered a hard blow directly to the back of the boy's head, knocking him out cold.

 **A/N: Fun Fact: I still haven't gotten any flames. Literally anyone else would be happy about that, but I'm not, so please, pretty please, post some fiery reviews or something.**

 **Oh yea, favorite, follow, non-flame reviews, those are cool too. But that's just it, they're cool, not _hot_ like flames. We're in the middle of winter and I'm cold, need some flames to warm my heart.**

 **Also, I 100% encourage the stealing of my ideas. Check my profile for details.**


	4. Abomination

**A/N: I seem to be almost as inconsistent with my chapter lengths as I am with my posting frequency.**

 **Remember to ask any questions you might have. I'll probably answer them.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm like a monk. I don't own anything.**

Naruto awoke in a dank cell. There were no windows, and the door had only a small peephole for someone outside to look in. The walls, ceiling and floor were all dark grey and grimy, made of some kind of rough stone. The only three objects in the room with him were a mattress and a chamberpot, neither of which were clean, and a small lightbulb that provided the meager amount of light present in the room. Naruto himself was disarmed, and all of the seals that he had drawn on himself had been removed. He was wearing what appeared to be hospital scrubs, though they were far from sterile. He was also bound with chakra suppression handcuffs, preventing him from doing much to escape captivity.

 _ **Hey kit, you feeling alright? You got a pretty bad knock to the head there.**_

 _Yea, I'm ok… a little sore, but it doesn't feel like I'm injured. Where the hell am I?_

 _ **I have no idea, kit. I can feel some chakra signatures above and below us, so we're either in a building or underground, but we could be anywhere from Kazi no Kuni to Kaminari no Kuni and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I can't sense anything when you're unconscious, so I don't know how far we went or in what direction. Best guess I have, based on those weird headbands, is that we're in a minor hidden village, probably in a minor country. Doesn't narrow much down, but it trims the haystack down a little.**_

 _Do you think you can overload these chakra suppression cuffs?_

 _ **I know for a fact that if I powered you up you'd be able to break out. The problem is that if even half of the people I'm sensing have that vile chakra we felt earlier, even if I gave you all you can handle they'd still beat you. They'd all come running if they sensed my chakra.**_

 _So, what, do we just sit here and wait for them to kill us?_

 _ **If they wanted to kill you, they'd probably have done it already. If there's something else going on, we might be able to make a break for freedom when they try to get us for whatever's going to happen. It's probably good that you didn't use my chakra; if the two who collected you had backup, you'd still be here and they'd be able to prepare for my intervention. Your chances aren't horrible, kit, just sit tight and wait for a good opportunity.**_

The prisoner and his prisoner waited in silence, keeping their ears peeled for approaching footsteps or some indication of where they were. After an indeterminate amount of time, they heard a noise coming from somewhere nearby.

 _Is that… crying?_

 _ **Sounds like it. Remember those other kids the two that grabbed you were carrying? We're probably not the only captives here.**_

The two fell silent once more, listening as more noises joined the crying. Some of the other children being kept there shouted out for help, some pounded on the doors, others still shouted out various threats of violence and retribution. Eventually, the Jinchūriki heard the distinct sound of incoming footsteps, followed by a door opening and a single voice screaming above the rest to let him go. The footsteps and the prisoner moved away, getting progressively quieter as the remaining captives made even more noise.

Naruto sat on his mattress in a cross-legged pose, closing his eyes. He soon fell into a meditative trance, somewhere between sleep and awareness, to relax and prepare his mind. His body recovered faster if he relaxed, and he didn't intend to squander the advantage that time to prepare gave him.

Several minutes later, the footsteps returned; the voice of the captive that was taken was conspicuously absent. Another door, another panicked victim, and the prisoners were down by one more.

This time, the space of time between the footsteps leaving and returning was noticeably smaller. Another detainee was lead away to their fate.

Exactly 833 seconds later, according to Naruto's count, the footsteps arrived again. Another cell was emptied and another child was lead away. The footsteps were coming closer to Naruto's cell each pass, and he estimated that after another dozen repetitions it would be his turn.

For almost two hours, this pattern continued. Sometimes the delay between prisoner retrievals was as low as four minutes, sometimes is was as high as fifteen. As the number of cell occupants dwindled, so did the noise level, and eventually the survivors gave up trying to get help and simply fell silent.

Finally, the footsteps returned one more time, stopping in front of Naruto's door. It clicked open, and a man with a music note hitai-ate stepped inside. The Jinchūriki offered no resistance, knowing it would be futile as long as those cuffs were on, and allowed the man to grab his arm and lead him out into the hallway. It was in the same style as the rooms, with the dark walls and the dim lighting, lined with cell doors similar to his own on either side. One end of the hallway was a dead end, with merely another cell door in the wall. The other had a distinctly different looking door, brighter than the ones surrounding Naruto.

Before long, he was on the other side of that door, in what appeared to be a grimy science lab. The lighting was similar, but the walls and floor were brighter. There were countertops with various glassware, apparati, cabinets and complicated-looking charts and diagrams scattered across them. In the middle of the room, there was a single table with arm, leg and neck restraints built onto it. It appeared to be adjustable, currently in a nearly vertical position. A glance at the sealing arrays on the restraints and Naruto knew they matched those on the chakra suppression cuffs, meaning that they would not provide his opportunity for escape. It seemed that the kids being led away were used as test subjects for something, and that it probably ended up killing them. Being a Jinchūriki, Naruto felt that any kind of toxin or seal that they could cook up to put on him would be quickly neutralized by Kurama. Comparing the odds of surviving a poison that normal kids could live through for fifteen minutes to the near-certain death that attempting an escape would be, and the boy quickly concluded that he had only one reasonable option.

The blonde was lead to the table and strapped in, his cuffs only being removed after the neck and leg restraints were in place to suppress his chakra. Soon, he was on his back spread-eagle, listening as his guard left and two more music note nin entered. One quickly moved to the far end of the room, where one of the counters sat against the wall, and the other opened a drawer and removed a tape recorder. He clicked it on and began to speak into it.

"Shikotsumyaku transfer experiment, formula number eight, subject batch number four, subject number seventeen. Subject batch number four consists of individuals between the ages of six and twelve. Subject number seventeen displayed notable combat prowess during retrieval, probable shinobi training. Test will commence at…" The man looked up at a clock on the wall as his partner moved to the side of Naruto's table. "21:51."

The other apparent researcher withdrew a syringe filled with a brown-red substance, pushing Naruto's head to the side to expose a vein on his neck. The boy watched as the clock ticked toward 9:51, anticipating the pinprick of the syringe.

 _Do you have any idea what that 'Shikotsumyaku' thing is?_

 _ **If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably a kekkei genkai of some sort, but for all I know it could be some sort of juinjutsu or something else entirely. If it's a kekkei genkai, this will probably hurt like hell, but unless these guys a fucking insane and think some sort of major anatomical bloodline can be transferred I wouldn't count on it being fatal to you. If it's a juinjutsu, I'll be able to knock it out and keep you from being affected, or at least protect you from it by bringing you behind the seal. Still, brace yourself, this isn't going to be pleasant.**_

The second hand struck twelve, and Naruto felt the syringe pierce his skin. Immediately, liquid fire seemed to spread through his veins. His eyes widened and he screamed in agony. The internal inferno spread slowly through every inch of his body, first engulfing his head, then his torso and arms, followed by his legs and feet. The burning pain dug deeper, permeating every vein, artery and capillary. He could feel it pump through his heart into his lungs, flow through his arteries into his brain, travel from the center of his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes, searing every nerve ending along the way. Then, the pain seemed to abate for a moment.

 _ **Oh shit, they just had to be fucking insane, didn't they. Hold on kit.**_

Suddenly, the boy felt something shift inside him. Several somethings. All at once, every bone in the Jinchūriki's body began shifting around, mangling skin, muscle and organs alike. He felt as though his insides were being liquified. Bones broke through the skin in their movement, ripping open gaping holes that bled profusely as blood vessels received similar treatment.

Almost immediately, the fire that was flowing through Naruto's veins was matched by another, much more familiar warmth. Fiery red demon chakra erupted from every inch of the boy's skin, melting the chakra suppression restraints on the table and atomizing the researchers. The movement of his skeleton seemed to slow, and the holes that had been opened in his skin quickly closed. The Shikotsumyaku injection was still fighting though, tearing through the blonde's skin and mangling everything inside him as fast as the fox could heal the damage.

The pain soon overwhelmed the child, and he fell into his mindscape to suppress it. He appeared in front of his prisoner, whose face was contorted into a snarling rictus of concentration. Chakra flowed out of the bars in waves, washing over the entirety of Naruto's mindscape. The physical representation of the boy's mind was quickly crumbling, cracks appearing over every surface as rubble rained down upon the two. Every wave of red chakra repaired the cracks and cleared away the debris, but almost immediately they returned. The fox spoke quickly and laboriously, his entire focus being on keeping his container alive.

" **In here. Safer."**

He hastily joined his prisoner behind the bars, being enveloped by the red aura emitted by the fox. The damage being done to his mindscape seemed to slow as the boy watched from behind the protection of the seal and his companion within. The damage was still terrifying, but now the cracks were less deep, the rubble falling less substantial. The fox let out a brief sigh of relief as the effort required of him diminished slightly, even as he continued to emit more chakra than most ninja possessed every second.

Outside the mindscape, the boy's body was writhing involuntarily. Four limbs made entirely of chakra flailed around the room, upsetting many of the items on the countertops. Bones continued to shift around, breaking the skin before receding and letting it heal, then repeating the painful process. Organs were compressed or torn before being rebuilt, muscles were pulled apart or ripped to shreds and then reconstituted.

Guards came running, curse seals activated. A few burst through the door, only to be met with a heavy impact as demonic chakra met tainted juinjutsu chakra. The few that remained on their feet watched as the boy underwent the procedure before their eyes, his body distending in ways a human body shouldn't.

Within the seal, the damage continued to recede with every pulse of the Kyūbi's chakra. The cracks became less substantial, large chunks of the structure stopped falling, disconnected pieces of floor stopped shifting, walls stopped bucking and collapsing. Soon, only hairline cracks appeared after each iteration, then none appeared at all. Kurama exhaled slowly as the demon chakra receded, before collapsing to the side opposite Naruto, panting. Two of the fox's tails dispersed, the chakra sustaining them having been used up.

 _ **Holy… fucking… shit… I haven't… used that much chakra… since the Valley of the End. Tell me straight… kit, am I getting fat?**_

Naruto chuckled weakly, unsteady because of the traumatic pain and severe damage his body had undergone.

"I always assumed you were just fluffy… Thanks for keeping me alive, Kurama. I owe you."

 _ **Yea, you most certainly do… at least you're grateful… that fucking Uchiha twat certainly wasn't.**_

"Shit, you're down to seven tails. Those grow back, right?"

 _ **Of course they do, you nitwit… It might just take a few weeks or so… A tail is a ton of chakra, after all…**_

The boy relaxed fully and collapsed in an unconscious heap, soon disappearing from the mindscape as his subconscious receded to dreamland.

As the ninja outside the seal observed, the movements began to slow, gradually decelerating before coming to a complete stop. One of the tails of demon chakra dissolved into nothing, followed quickly by another. The other two receded back into the boy, and the aura that surrounded him faded. He visibly relaxed as the pain disappeared.

Orochimaru's soldiers looked at each other in shock before quickly approaching the unconscious boy, slapping cuffs on him before bringing him to the maximum security cells. They wanted him secure so he couldn't escape before their master got there. This was the first time anyone had survived the procedure. If the boy had gained Shikotsumyaku, he would be an invaluable asset to Orochimaru, even without considering that incredibly powerful red chakra. It would almost certainly be their heads if they let him go.

…

Kabuto waited in the antechamber of the snake sannin's personal laboratory. Nobody was allowed access to the lab proper but the S-ranked missing nin himself, not that anyone without an equal or higher classification would survive for long inside between the security measures and the experiments themselves.

A messenger had arrived claiming that their experiments to transfer Kimimaro's priceless Shikotsumyaku had borne fruit. Such an important success warranted Orochimaru's direct attention, but the man was busy experimenting with an improved version of the Ten no Juin, so his most loyal subordinate was forced to wait until he was available.

Kabuto didn't have to wait long. Within twenty minutes of his arrival, Orochimaru concluded his experimentation and exited his lab. The unnerving smile that adorned his face faltered slightly at the unsolicited presence of his right hand man, as such situations often preceded bad news.

"If there's a problem, I leave it in your hands. I have no intention to ruin this good mood with misfortune."

His right hand man smiled. "On the contrary, Lord Orochimaru, one of our satellite establishments experimenting with the Shikotsumyaku have produced some results. The bloodline was successfully transferred to a boy of about eight, though the description provided of the procedure leads me to believe the subject only survived because he is a Jinchūriki."

The missing nin's snake-like visage contorted into a vicious grin. "Excellent, it seems I can field-test my new seal. It's a shame we haven't discovered a way to transfer the ability to a viable vessel, but having a Jinchūriki with the Shikotsumyaku under my control has the potential to be an even greater boon. I will go greet my new weapon in person, you are dismissed."

…

If he weren't aching all over, he would feel a bit of deja vu at waking up in another dank cell. This one was larger, with the same facilities as his previous abode. However, the walls and door were lined with complex sealing arrays clearly meant to keep anyone inside where they were. There were strengthening seals, locking seals, repair seals, chakra sensing and suppression seals, as well as seals that would knock out most people if activated. If examined closely though, it would be clear that the seals were inactive.

The boy, however, was too focused on the aches he could feel all over his body to be bothered by such details. It wasn't that the pain was intense; it certainly wasn't anything to scoff at, but it paled in comparison to the feeling of having one's body ripped apart by its own skeleton.

No, it was the other, utterly foreign feeling of pain that gave the Jinchūriki pause. It felt like parts of his body were _displaced_ , in a way, like they weren't where they should be. He would have just shrugged it off as a temporary side effect of whatever those idiots that were keeping him captive had done to him, if not for the tidbit Kurama had said right before the second stage of the process.

 _Yo, Kurama, you said before that they'd have to be fucking insane to give me something to change my anatomy significantly, then you called them fucking insane. Is that why I feel like this?_

 _ **I'd say so. Your chest cavity has been rearranged pretty significantly, and your skeleton was pretty much torn apart and put back together again differently. Your chakra system, though...**_

 _What? Did my chakra coils get damaged from overusing your power?_

 _ **Well, they did, but that isn't noteworthy. What is, though... chakra doesn't normally flow through minerals, like the calcium in your bones. Before, your chakra only flowed through the marrow of your bones, because that was the only chakra conductive part of your skeleton. Now, it flows through the entirety of your skeleton, calcium included. I bet whatever they did allows you to do something freaky with your bones now. Try pushing chakra into your hand or something.**_

 _That wouldn't do anything, though. I've got these chakra suppression cuffs on._

 _ **Chakra suppression cuffs don't completely cut off internal chakra flow, or else you'd lose whatever appendage they were placed on.**_ (Naruto filed this tidbit away; it gave him an idea for a new weapon he could make with fuinjutsu) _**It does enough to weaken people who enhance their strength with chakra, but not enough to prevent you from pushing some extra chakra into your hands.**_

The boy did so, and promptly screamed in surprise and slight pain. Bones were suddenly protruding from the tips of his fingers, back of his hand, his knuckles, his palm, and his wrist. The bones from his wrist tore straight through the chakra suppression cuff with little resistance, ripping it from his hand violently. The sudden and extreme reaction that his skeleton had to chakra startled Naruto into cutting off the flow, causing the bones to recede back into his hand.

 _Holy fucking shit on a stick, what the_ fuck _is that?_

… _**That reminds me of an ability possessed by an ancient, powerful, corrupt being. I pray the fools who gave you this aren't tampering with things they shouldn't be.**_

The two were silent as Naruto examined his hand, first watching the wounds from the skeletal protuberances heal over before experimentally pushing some chakra into the tip of his finger, causing a bone to extend from the end of it. He increased the chakra flow, watching the bone extend, before cutting it back, causing the bone to recede partially. Curiously, the boy pushed as much chakra as he could into his finger, only to jolt in surprise when the bone shot out of his hand and embedded itself in the wall across from him. He was about to continue his experimentation, but was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

His eyes widened; here was his chance to escape! He quickly shredded the other chakra cuff with his new ability before pressing himself against the wall, out of sight of the small peephole on the door. The footsteps paused at the door and Naruto heard muffled cursing as keys jangled in the lock frantically. The door opened and another man with a music note hitai-ate stepped through, only to be met with Naruto's arm bone protruding through his head.

The body slumped to the ground and Naruto made to grab the man's kunai pouch before pausing. He had biological weapons at his disposal, he didn't need to weigh himself down. The Jinchūriki silently exited the room, prepared to run or fight if his impromptu assassination had drawn any attention.

Luckily, the hallway was empty. Naruto darted toward the closest end of the hallway, hoping that the door situated there would lead to an exit. He was disappointed when the door opened into another lab similar to the one in which Naruto had undergone his transformation. He was about to try the other door leading into the testing room when he heard an alarm sound somewhere nearby. Footsteps immediately sounded from _both_ doors leading into the lab, leaving Naruto trapped.

 _How many?_

 _ **At least a dozen, and they have tainted chakra. I see an air vent, get in there.**_

Naruto hadn't even noticed the air duct built into the wall. It was large enough that he could crawl through it, and small enough that nobody would be able to follow him without being at a severe disadvantage. The boy used a bone from his arm to leverage the covering off the wall, exposing the opening for him to escape into. He dove in and began scrambling away as both doors to the lab burst open and music-note nin flooded in.

"Shit, did we miss him?"

"No, he's in the vent!"

"Fuck, I can't fit, go find a map of the vent system and cut him up ahead."

"Which way is he going?"

"Fuck it, I'm flushing him out."

The Jinchūriki's eyes widened as he heard one of his former jailers call out a Fire Release jutsu. Remembering his previous encounter with fire, he focused his chakra into a dense slab and pushed it out behind him.

"Uzumaki Secret Technique: Chakra Barrier!"

Being formed internally, rather than externally, the barrier held up much better against the assault. Naruto didn't get out unscathed, though; the barrier broke after ten seconds under the focused, juinjutsu-enhanced flames. The burns were much less severe than the ones he'd sustained previously, however, and he managed to crawl away from the duct opening before another jutsu could cremate him.

Away from immediate danger, Naruto now needed to figure out where he was going.

 _Any idea how I can get the hell out of here?_

 _ **Go up. Either we're in a building and you'll reach the roof where you can jump off, or we're underground and you'll reach the surface. Anywhere else could be a dead end.**_

The blonde gave a mental nod before continuing his crawl, staying away from anywhere he could hear activity. He climbed up every vertical pathway he found, slowly getting closer to the top of whatever structure they were inside. Soon enough, the boy was forced to exit his escape route, having reached a dead end as high as he could go.

The room he entered appeared to be an abandoned cottage, probably a disguised entrance for the lab. The Jinchūriki paid it no mind as he threw open the door opposite the vent, escaping into the outdoors. He paused to breathe a sigh of relief, only to stiffen as he heard a slow clap coming from the roof of the building behind him.

"Well done, you managed to evade my subordinates. You are not free yet, though."

The speaker leapt down from the roof, landing in front of Naruto. In response, the boy grew out his knuckles to make claws for his kitsune style taijutsu and got into a ready stance, preparing for a fight. The man in front of him smirked.

"Ah, such audacity, such determination! You certainly appear to be a fine specimen, but we won't really know until we fight, won't we?"

The blonde drew on as much of the Kyūbi's chakra as he could, unwilling to risk what happened when he was captured. An aura of red chakra enveloped him, and two tails sprouted out the back of the chakra cloak. Naruto frowned; he had tried to draw four tails, but could only feel the power of two. His frown deepened into a scowl as he remembered that the fox had used up two tails keeping him alive, meaning he'd be limited until they grew back. Still, two tails should be enough for one opponent, even if they have that tainted chakra, right?

The boy charged, hoping that his chakra-enhanced speed would be enough to catch the other man off guard. His claws aimed for the man's neck, but only passed through air as his opponent dodged. Immediately, he was flying backwards from a kick, having left himself open by overextending. He landed on his feet and charged at the man again, but to no avail. His opponent flowed and twisted unnaturally, evading every strike and delivering devastating counters at every opportunity. Even with the fox's chakra, Naruto knew he was badly outmatched in taijutsu.

He jumped back, preparing hand seals to turn the tide in his favor with ninjutsu. His adversary came at him to interrupt, but the boy finished too quickly to be stopped.

"Wind Release: Eroding Tempest"

The jutsu caught the man as he attempted to strike the boy, blowing him back and tearing into him with dozens of small, sharpened blades of wind. He crumpled to the ground several feet away, bleeding. Naruto smirked, but quickly shifted into a scowl as his opponent suddenly turned brown and melted, denoting that he had been fighting an Earth Clone.

He turned just in time to block a blow aiming for his head, but was forced to jump back and gain space when the man followed up with a kick. The Jinchūriki tried to surprise his adversary by launching his finger bones at him, but the slimy music-note nin simply dodged in his unnaturally fluid way, avoiding every single projectile easily.

"Hmmm, so you figured out how to perform the Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets on your own? I'm impressed."

The man pressed his attack, flowing from strike to strike without pause, even when forced to dodge one of Naruto's counterattacks. Despite the incredible resilience endowed to the Jinchūriki by his demon's chakra, he was quickly weakening under the brutal onslaught of fists and feet. He lashed out recklessly, hoping to give himself some leeway. The unexpected maneuver managed to score a glancing scrape on his opponent, who was forced to break off and dodge.

The half second his blitz bought him was all he needed to regain the advantage. The boy jumped back immediately, molding much of his abundant chakra to produce a technique that could overwhelm his opponent. His hands formed the tiger seal, focusing that chakra into the boy's favorite technique.

"Uzumaki Secret Technique: Super Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Smoke surrounded the two combatants. A breeze quickly cleared it away, generated by some minor elemental manipulation from Naruto. In its place stood 50 identical hospital-scrub-clad eight year olds with bones protruding from their hands, surrounding their opponent. They each adopted identical kitsune style taijutsu stances, awaiting their opponent's reaction.

The unsettling nin's only response was to raise an eyebrow, surprised at the chakra capacity of the boy he was fighting. Shadow clones were easily dealt with, even "super" ones (if the boy was to be believed), but to be able to create so many was quite a feat for someone who would normally be three years away from Genin.

What intrigued him even more than that, however, was the clan name the child proclaimed alongside his technique. The old fool Sarutobi's replacement, the damned Namikaze that had stolen his position as Yondaime, was rather fond of a girl that went by the clan name Uzumaki. Beyond that, the boy had the Yondaime's hair color, the Shadow Clone Jutsu was a jutsu used primarily in Konoha, and the boy had plenty of fuinjutsu supplies on him when he was captured, a field in which both the Uzumaki clan and the Yondaime were renowned.

The clincher, however, was that the boy was about eight years old and a Jinchūriki. If he was indeed from Konoha, that would mean that he was born, and therefore had the demon sealed within him, around the time the Yondaime sacrificed himself to supposedly "kill" the Kyūbi no Yoko. Orochimaru was well aware from his time in Akatsuki that it was nearly impossible to kill an unleashed bijū, so that meant that it must have been sealed. Minato was too much of a treehugger to force someone else to sacrifice their child as a vessel for a demon.

Altogether, it seemed that the boy in front of him (and behind him, and to either side of him) was the child of the most powerful shinobi in recent history (even Orochimaru was not conceited enough to pretend that he could defeat his rival in open combat), and was carrying not only the signature Uzumaki longevity and fuinjutsu skill, but also the most powerful of the nine bijū _and_ the Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai. At around eight years old, the boy was purportedly able to take down two B-rank missing nin singlehandedly, putting him at the skill level of a high Jōnin (B-rank), if not an ANBU (A-rank). That was before he received arguably the most powerful combat-oriented kekkei genkai in existence.

The snake sannin unsheathed the Kusanagi, unwilling to let the battle become protracted. The boy had passed his test with flying colors, but now he had to be subdued. No doubt his status as a Jinchūriki would protect him from the poison on the blade, but it would certainly weaken him enough to provide the opening Orochimaru needed to apply his new Ten no Juin.

The ex-Konoha nin struck hard and fast, slashing through the clones that Naruto had created. To his surprise, however, the first clone to get its claws up in time was actually able to block his sword. If it was the original, he wouldn't have been so shocked. Shikotsumyaku-enhanced bones were extraordinarily strong, and the added strength provided by the Kyūbi's chakra would make them even more so. However, clones were typically much less resilient than their original creator, meaning that he should have been more than able to dispel one by cutting through a bone. Perhaps he was too hasty in dismissing the strength of the boy's "super" clones.

The remaining Narutos all charged, hoping that numbers would overwhelm skill and buy the original time to get away. He had used the smokescreen created by his clones forming to cover his escape, though he was sure that the creepy bastard he was fighting would be able to sense his chakra as soon as his clones were defeated. Unbeknownst to him, the aforementioned creepy bastard already knew he was running, and was confident that he could finish up with the clones and catch up to the boy easily.

The clones nearest the front attacked simultaneously, using various Kitsune style attacks to strike from all angles and all directions. Their opponent had clearly been holding back before, though, and his sword blurred around him as the melee attackers were dispelled or repelled. Orochimaru was further impressed that some of the clones could sustain a direct impact, either a punch or a kick, and not dispel. He had no idea how the kid had made such strong clones, but it must have taken at least a few times more chakra than typical shadow clones to form them.

The clones that were farther back from their S-ranked opponent opted to either use Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets, as their enemy had called it, or some Wind Release: Air Knives to provide ranged support. Most of the Drilling Bullets were parried, being entirely unable to hit him because of his speed with the Kusanagi, but the Air Knives proved mildly challenging to avoid because of their tendency to split into two smaller blades when parried. The sannin's evaluation of the boy rose with every slight nick he received from the wind technique, despite him dodging at full speed. He hoped the Ten no Juin worked; it would be a shame to be forced to put down such a talented young upstart.

The clones' numbers continued to dwindle as more and more were forced into close quarters combat with the sannin, which invariably resulted in their quick demise. Before long, all of them had been cut down, and the snake summoner was free to pursue the original.

Some distance away, Naruto sat against a tree and panted, having released his chakra cloak out of necessity. He hoped he was far enough away that he'd escaped the man; his last clone was just dispelled, and he'd put at least a couple of miles between him and the disguised lab. Human sensors could be sensitive, but only the absolute best of the best could sense someone from that distance, even if they had a chakra presence as pronounced as Naruto's.

The battle had been grueling after the severe damage he'd received from that damn procedure, despite the fox's chakra. The human body simply wasn't made to fight after having been torn apart and put back together again differently. It was all he could do to maintain consciousness; he knew he wasn't nearly far enough away to be safe, but he would collapse if he took another step. He gave himself five minutes to recuperate, more than enough time for a Jinchūriki to catch its breath, and then he'd be on his way again. He knew that, considering how fast the slimy nin could dodge and weave, the bastard would probably be able to catch up with him. He was betting on the fact that his opponent wasn't a high-power chakra sensor and wouldn't know which direction he went, and usually he had pretty good luck with bets.

Unfortunately, it would seem that luck was not on his side today. After a measly three minutes, he looked up to see the very same creepy bastard crouching in front of him, tilting his head at a curious angle.

"I must say, I'm impressed at how well you could hold your own against me. There aren't many who walk this earth that could draw blood against me like you did. Yes, I believe you'll be a fine specimen… Oh dear, it appears we forwent formal introductions earlier. My apologies, may I ask your name?"

Naruto just sighed resignedly. He was far too weak to fight against someone so powerful in his current state, and he couldn't handle another round in his chakra cloak for awhile. He was helpless, and both of them knew it.

The boy croaked out his name. "Uzumaki Naruto."

The pale-looking man smiled. "I am Orochimaru, one of the Densetsu no Sannin. It is a pleasure to meet such a fine young warrior."

Without warning, the snake sannin's head shot forward, his neck extending unnaturally, and he bit into the boy's neck, implanting his newly improved Ten no Juin to corrupt the child's mind. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, before he collapsed into unconsciousness.

 **A/N: I guess I can take it as a compliment that nobody has been angered to the point of flaming me yet, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm asking for them. There's no better way to light a fire under my ass than with flames.**

 **But favorites, follows and non-flame reviews also accomplish this task. Just not as well as flames.**

 **Oh, and I s'pose I should clarify what I consider each of the different rankings and stuff, for future reference. E=Civilian/Academy student, D=Genin, C=Chūnin, B=Jonin, A=ANBU, S=Kage, SS=Bijū (For example, Namikaze Minato went toe to toe with the Ky** **ūbi and they kinda ended in a draw, so I'd rank him as SS), SSS=Holy Fucking Shit He Just Beat The Shit Out Of A Bij** **ū** **(For example, Uchiha Obito and his ability to control the Bij** **ū with his sharingan)**

 **Techniques of each rank are techniques that (1. can be learned by most people of that rank, but not the rank below it, and (2. are powerful enough to be significantly threatening to/useful against someone of that rank.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	5. Dilemma

**A/N: Shoutout to that one guy in Japan that viewed my story seven times (for good luck!). That's one way to bring my view count up, I guess.**

 **Disclaimer: I deny that it is untrue that I don't not lack ownership of Naruto, nor don't I not lack ownership of the Star Wars franchise, from which I didn't not fail to deny myself the use of a quote.**

Naruto found himself standing in front of the massive prison that contained his companion within his mind. Kurama was behind him, growling menacingly, but the figure in front of them had Naruto confused. It appeared to be an identical copy of the boy, except the doppelganger's skin was covered in strange black markings similar to those on Orochimaru's henchmen. Noxious purple chakra slowly poured out of the false Naruto, spreading outward across his mindscape.

" _I have the power to give you all that you desire…"_

Its voice was soft; an overlapping mixture of Naruto's own voice and that of the creepy Sannin he had just fought. The sound was disconcerting, and the boy shivered and shifted into a ready stance. The Kyūbi growled louder, but could not contribute his chakra to the conflict until Naruto's body recovered more.

" _Prove to me that you are worthy of it!"_

The corrupted shade darted forward, landing a crushing blow on Naruto before he could react. The boy was sent flying, crashing into one of the bars of the cage behind him. He rebounded off the metal, returning with a powerful right hook that knocked the evil entity back. It maintained its footing, however, and was soon pressing the attack again. Naruto did his best to block and dodge, but blows eventually began to slip through his guard.

He threw a strong frontal kick, interrupting the onslaught and knocking the dark entity back. He took the brief reprieve to form the Tiger seal, attempting to create some assistance. His doppelganger caught its breath, watching Naruto without concern.

"Uzumaki Secret Technique: Super Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A heartbeat passed, and no clones appeared. The false Jinchūriki laughed at the boy's failed jutsu as the purple chakra around him began to writhe agitatedly, flowing at a slightly faster rate.

" _Ah, ah, ah… you didn't think it would be that easy, would you? My seal absorbs all of the chakra you try to mold, or that your passenger tries to give you, so you can't cheat in our battle. That means no jutsu, no yōko no koromo, and no Shikotsumyaku. Just you, and me."_

Naruto turned to Kurama, keeping his opponent in his peripheral vision.

"Hey, any chance I can hide in there with you while you burn this fucker off me?"

Kurama snarled in frustration. " **I wouldn't be able to overload it without killing you, and leaving it in your head without you there to fight it would give it control over your body. You'll have to fight it. Sorry kit."**

Naruto cursed quietly as the battle resumed, more intense than before. He was relatively out of practice using taijutsu other than the Kitsune style, which he was unable to utilize because of his inability to grow claws and lack of kunai.

 _Wait… I can control my mindscape, so I can create kunai to use!_

At the thought, the knives he required for his preferred fighting style materialized between his fingers, surprising his opponent. He used his doppelganger's brief pause to great effect, gouging deep cuts into its torso and knocking it back with a kick. The evil entity was sent sprawling, viscous black blood flying from the wounds it sustained. As it landed, the purple shroud surrounding it began to recede, flowing into the wounds as they slowly closed. Naruto frowned as the being recovered from a fatal wound in seconds, returning to its feet with an unsettling grin on its face.

" _Hmm, it seems you aren't worthless after all, despite all that those ignorant villagers did to you."_

Naruto froze, flashes of long-repressed memories appearing before his eyes. He sucked in a breath as his anger seemed to burn in his veins. He was too distracted to notice the putrid cloud of chakra around his opponent grow.

" _Yes, I know all about your time in Konoha, how they beat you and hurt you and called you_ weak _and_ worthless _, how they ignored you and starved you and broke your spirit until you gave up and ran away like a_ coward _!"_

His anger grew, clouding his vision with shades of red and twisting his face into a snarl. He finally noticed the growing cloud of purple chakra surrounding his opponent, but his mind was too colored by rage to care. He was going to rip this thing apart, then maybe go get some revenge on those damn villagers that had ruined his childhood.

" _Good, use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you. I am your anger, your power, use me to take your revenge on those spiteful bastards did to you. Kill them for the pain you suffered, kill them for the anger and fear they caused, kill them for your loneliness on the road without a home, kill them for everything they did to you!"_

His hatred grew steadily, as did the cloud of purple surrounding his double, during the doppelganger's speech. However, its final proclamations made Naruto pause. He had pledged not to kill if he didn't have to, and he didn't intend to break his promise. His father and mother had loved Konoha, having given their lives to protect it from the man who controlled Kurama, and he couldn't just destroy the village and negate their sacrifice. His anger receded somewhat, and his resolve hardened, but the evil shade wasn't done just yet.

" _Your pledge was to spare those who would leave you in peace, who would allow you to live unmolested. The puny leaf villagers will hate you until the day you or they die, and they are almost certainly hunting you down with that intention. You won't be able to stop running until you kill them all. You would not break you pledge by destroying their village._

" _You think of your parents' sacrifice as though it were noble, as though it were a good thing that they trapped your only friend in a dank, constraining prison to save a village full of ignorant fools and questionable morals. Why do you idolize them so? Because your father slaughtered hundreds of Iwa nin during the Third Shinobi World War? Because your mother came from a clan that caused the death of thousands before they were destroyed? They were fools with blood on their hands, and you would disregard your morals when thinking of them simply because they are related to you._

" _You have no reason to spare the monsters you left behind. Punish them, hurt them for harming you, destroy their home for having run you out of yours, make them fear you!"_

Naruto's resolve weakened, his anger returned, and the suffocating cloud of purple chakra expanded once more. He tried to think of a reason not to make a beeline for the leaf village and reduce it to smoking rubble, but none of his thoughts could pierce through the boiling rage that clouded his mind. The faces of the villagers that had wronged him flashed through his mind's eye, and his fury burned hot through his veins. However, as one face came to the forefront of his mind, his rage faltered.

 _What about the Old Man?_

The smiling face of the Sandaime Hokage, Naruto's grandfather figure, caused the fiery anger in his blood to cool and recede. The Old Man hadn't done anything to him; contrarily, he'd often been fed and comforted by the elderly leader. Despite not having protected the boy as well as he should have, the Third had gone out of his way to care for Naruto when he could, on top of his responsibilities as Hokage. And, as Hokage, the Old Man would be forced to defend the village from attackers, so to destroy Konoha, Naruto would have to kill the only decent person there, which he was entirely unwilling to do.

His determination solidified; he would not give in to the creature that was trying to influence him. He hated Konoha, despised it with every fiber of his being, but he would not destroy the man who had kept him alive through his time there. Nor would he dishonor the Sandaime's legacy by destroying his life's work, the village that he'd spent his entire life guiding and protecting, after he passed. If the village fell to powers outside of Naruto's control, so be it. He would not mourn. But he would not be the one to bring it to its knees.

His anger under control, Naruto refocused on his malicious doppelganger just as its foot met his chin. The blow knocked him airborne, sending him into the wall behind him several feet from the floor. The wall indented from the heavy impact, with Naruto stuck in the indentation. The boy just barely regained his wits from the brutal strike before he was forced to deflect another attack. The punch had been much stronger than before, and displaced enough of the wall next to Naruto's head that it ejected him from his crater violently. He fell to the floor, managing to land on his feet, and brought his arms up in a block to absorb another devastating impact that would have caved in his ribcage had it struck true. The force of the collision was enough to send Naruto sliding backwards, giving him space to counterattack.

Kunai and shuriken materialized in his hands at his will as he sent a barrage of projectiles at his adversary, slowing the shade's approach. He didn't intend for his attacks to hit their target, however; he was simply buying himself time to prepare a suitable counter to the vastly superior speed and strength of his doppelganger.

It closed the distance between the two of them in a matter of seconds, regardless, and soon Naruto was back on the defensive, attempting to dodge and block the brutally powerful blows rained upon him. The great agility and versatility of Kitsune taijutsu style helped the boy exploit openings in his opponent's defenses, but any injuries he inflicted on the impostor were quickly filled with purple chakra and healed. When Naruto was hit, however, even when the blow was glancing, the impact was enough to bruise him and knock him off balance. He couldn't block the blows he was receiving very well, because his arms could only take so much of a beating before they gave way. He was being worn down quickly, and had to change something up before he was overwhelmed.

Remembering the kunai he could summon on command, Naruto took a moment to will another weapon into existence. A ninjato materialized in his hand as soon as the thought passed his mind, and suddenly the boy had a reach advantage on his adversary. A few strikes later and the corrupted being was forced to jump away from the onslaught, sporting a number of gashes that took several seconds to close. It scowled at the boy across from it, but said nothing, opting instead to hold its hand out to the side with an open hand.

Some of the purple chakra that was circling the entity suddenly flowed towards its hand, condensing into a matching ninjato with a purple handle seated in the creature's palm. It closed its hand around its new weapon and leapt forward, clashing its sword against Naruto's.

They both pushed briefly, vying for dominance, until the true Jinchūriki caught sight of something purple behind him in the reflection of his blade. He disengaged from the blade lock and jumped back just in time to avoid the purple-handled kunai that had materialized from his doppelganger's chakra cloud. The false Naruto capitalized on the original's dodge, however, and slashed forward, catching the boy in the stomach. The cut was shallow, but it hurt as though someone had taken a branding iron to it.

Naruto landed several feet away, putting pressure on the injury and grimacing in pain. His foe had already demonstrated that it possessed speed superior to his own, and during swordplay such a disadvantage could be fatal. He knew he couldn't defeat his foe in standard combat, but that weapon creation trick it had tried might give him the chance he needed to deliver a solid blow.

The mimic's eyes widened and it dove to avoid the knives that had just materialized behind it. The cloud of purple chakra convalesced into a variety of weapons to return fire, but Naruto was not limited to a certain area of manipulation like his doppelganger was, and quickly created more objects to block and deflect the imitator's barrage. Simultaneously, said imitator was being pressured by an onslaught of projectiles materializing on all sides. Naruto's double was very fast, but still couldn't avoid some slight damage from close calls and unexpected weapons. Naruto was quickly tiring from the effort of imagining and controlling the numerous weapons, however, and decided to deliver the killing blow. He herded his double towards him.

As the entity drew nearer, Naruto prepared himself, visualizing the weapon he wanted to materialize. When the double was within striking distance, about five feet away, the boy suddenly thrust his hands forward. A long wooden spear tipped with a nastily barbed head appeared in his grip. The false Jinchūriki was able to leap backwards and avoid the initial strike, but the true Jinchūriki simply willed the spear to extend and managed to successfully impale his target.

Putrid black blood leaked from the creature's mouth as it looked down at the spear shaft protruding from its chest.

" _Well done, boy. You managed to subdue me. However, it is impossible for you to destroy me so long as that hatred boils within you. I will bide my time. You will not be able to resist me forever."_

The entity dissolved, its body and blood wafting away as the same purple chakra that had surrounded it. The cloud of putrid power retreated down one of the various hallways in Naruto's mindscape, likely returning to its source. Kurama stopped growling and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that the tainted essence had receded. Its parting words had been worrisome, however.

" **Kit, I think you've been branded with whatever those nin who kidnapped you have. That** _ **thing**_ **had the same sort of markings, and its chakra felt the same as the tainted chakra your captors had."**

Naruto heaved a sigh and leaned against a nearby wall, sinking down to a sitting position to recover from his physical and mental exhaustion.

"Yea… So there's no way you can get rid of it without overloading my chakra system? I really don't like how it made me _want_ to use its power. I don't like to kill people, but it really convinced me that Konoha deserved to burn… and I'm still not sure it was wrong."

" **No, there's no way for me to get rid of it, unfortunately. Whatever it is, it's sentient and it's resilient. It isn't that I would overload your chakra system, though, it's that I would give you chakra poisoning. It's essentially alive, but it doesn't have a chakra system to overload, so the only way to get rid of it would be to poison it with my chakra until it died. It's built up massive resistance to corrupt chakra like mine though because of the crap it's filled with, so I would end up poisoning you before I killed it."**

"So, you're saying if I build up more resistance to your chakra, you'd be able to kill it?"

" **...I suppose so. Your body can handle having a small amount of my chakra in your system indefinitely, but so can that thing. Right now, you would survive having one tail of chakra running through your system for maybe six hours. It would survive for about a week with that level of chakra running through you nonstop. You'll have to build up a high tolerance to constant use of my chakra before you can burn that thing out, and that'll take time."**

"Well, can't I just learn to use more than four tails and burn it out super fast? It would be hell to build up my chakra tolerance enough to get rid of that thing."

 **"Unfortunately, that wouldn't work. As my host, you hold all of the chakra I give you in your coils, and when you mold chakra you gather up what you need from what you hold. A portion of that chakra circulates through you, enhancing your muscles and healing, but the vast majority is simply held in stasis, ready for you to use. Only the chakra that is circulating affects that thing's source, not all of my chakra you have in you. When you increase the number of tails you're using, the amount of chakra that is circulating through you doesn't increase proportionally to the total amount that you hold, so you shorten how long you can hold out much more than you shorten how long it can survive. You have a better chance of poisoning it before you get poisoned by using a lower number of tails. It can still last for a full week under the stress of one tail, though, so you'll need to improve your resistance to my chakra significantly before you can attempt to burn it out."**

Naruto frowned in frustration, unhappy at the prospect of having to fight for dominance over his body with such a dangerous _thing_ for so long a time.

" **And for the record, kit, I agree with what it said. Konoha does deserve retribution. But I understand that you couldn't do that to the Sandaime, nor, when the time came, do I think you would massacre helpless civilians, despite what they did to you. You aren't a heartless killer."**

Naruto just sighed, anger flaring briefly at the mention of his old village. That damn doppelganger had almost convinced him to abandon his morals and slaughter the citizens of Konoha in retaliation for his unfortunate past. After he'd left, he had reconciled with his miserable history in Konoha by acknowledging that he would leave it all behind and never go back, but even so he still had flashbacks to his poor treatment at the leaf village's hands. He often felt that they got off easy, not having to face the consequences of their actions, but he'd always deemed revenge as beneath him, not to mention his reluctance to kill.

In a matter of minutes, that creature had made him _eager_ to annihilate Konohagakure, and only his lingering gratitude to and affection for the village's leader had stopped him from abandoning rationale entirely and going on a rampage. It had even persuaded him to ignore his parents sacrifice in the village's name, making him believe that they were bad people and that they didn't deserve his admiration. Its influence over him was simultaneously astounding and terrifying.

"Is there any way I can stop that thing from coming back? I can't be sure I'll be able to resist it next time."

" **It seems to react to your anger, so if you can find a way to keep yourself calm, that should work well. I would also wager a guess that the meditation techniques I taught you to resist the influence of my chakra would work on that thing's influence as well, if it ever does come back. Beyond that, I think you just have to fight as hard as you can."**

Naruto sat against the wall in silence, pondering the recent developments in his life. He could only guess that that thing had been put there by Orochimaru, and that the sannin had given it to him to manipulate him. Maybe it was supposed to drive him insane with rage, and make him easy to control. Maybe it was meant to make him want to destroy Konoha, though his hatred of the leaf village seemed more like a target of opportunity than the entity's true intention. He was unsure, but whatever its purpose, it seemed to have failed, at least for now.

The boy's mind wandered as his eyes drooped, and he soon succumbed to the exhaustion caused by the day's trials.

 **A/N: I tried posting a new story, and it totally fell flat on its face. Makes me sad. I guess I should be grateful to y'all, this story's gotten a really good response compared to the other thing I posted. I'll go back to focusing on this one for awhile, I've learned my lesson about posting new crap instead of updating a good story.**

 **By the way, thanks for 100 follower milestone, and we're only about 90 views away from the 5,000 view milestone as well. Review count is kinda kaput though, so if you've got anything to say, go ahead and say it. I'll respond to any questions and complaints you have, and I always appreciate compliments.**

 **Remember, flames are encouraged! Oh yea, favorites, follows and other reviews are cool too.**

 **And to the guest reviewer GrimHeart, you brought up some good points, so I wouldn't even call your review a spark. If you want to take credit for being the first person to post a flame, you're gonna have to get _mean_ :)**


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